I am terrible with directions. And when I say terrible, I mean there’s a pretty good chance I’ll use GPS to get home from somewhere I’ve been a hundred times. At this point, it’s probably less about needing directions and more about the fact that I’ve completely surrendered that part of my brain to technology.
A while back, we were heading to get ice cream at one of our favorite places in Dublin. I handed my phone to my ten year old son and asked him to put the destination into Waze. He thought it would be hilarious to put in somewhere completely different, and about fifteen minutes later, we arrived at a place that was definitely not where I intended to go. He thought it was hilarious. I was less impressed.
But here’s what I’ve realized about myself. I’m perfectly comfortable trusting GPS to tell me where to turn, when to exit, and which roads to take, as long as I’m the one who gets to choose the destination. I don’t particularly care how we get there. I just want to know we’re headed somewhere I’ve already decided I want to go. And I wonder if sometimes we approach our relationship with God the exact same way.
When Trust Comes With Conditions
Most of us have some version of what we think our lives are supposed to look like. We have expectations for our marriages, our careers, our children, and our futures. Most of those expectations aren’t bad. They’re actually really good things. We want healthy families, meaningful work, children who grow up safe and happy, and relationships that last.
But somewhere along the way, something subtle can happen. We begin to confuse trusting God with trusting God to accomplish the future we’ve already decided we want. We pray for our children, but underneath those prayers is an expectation that God will keep them safe. We pray about our careers, but we assume that following God faithfully should eventually lead to things working out. We pray about our marriages and relationships, and without necessarily realizing it, we begin attaching conditions to our trust.
The problem isn’t that we’re asking God for bad things. The problem begins when getting what we want becomes the condition for trusting Him. Because what happens when God doesn’t do what we hoped? What happens when the relationship doesn’t get better, the diagnosis isn’t what we wanted, or we do everything we think we’re supposed to do and life still doesn’t turn out the way we imagined? Does God stop being trustworthy when our lives don’t go the way we think they should?
Trusting God When You Don’t Know the Outcome
There’s a fascinating story in Daniel 3 about three young men named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If you grew up going to church, you’ve probably heard it. It’s one of those stories that gets turned into a colorful children’s Bible illustration, but when you read it as an adult, you realize just how difficult their circumstances were.
These three men had been taken from their homeland into Babylonian captivity. They were living in a culture they hadn’t chosen, serving under a king they hadn’t elected, and facing pressures they never would have willingly invited into their lives.
King Nebuchadnezzar built an enormous golden statue and commanded everyone to bow down and worship it. Anyone who refused would be thrown into a blazing furnace. Which, just to be clear, is a pretty compelling reason to do what you’re told.
But these three men refused. They were brought before the king and given another opportunity to comply. Their response is one of the most remarkable statements of faith in Scripture. They told Nebuchadnezzar that their God was able to rescue them from the furnace. They believed He had the power to save them. But then they said something extraordinary.
“But even if he does not...”
Daniel 3:18
Even if God doesn’t rescue us, we’re not going to bow down. Think about what they’re actually saying. They believed God could save them. They hoped God would save them. But their faithfulness wasn’t dependent on whether He saved them. They trusted the character of God even when they couldn’t predict His actions.
And I think that’s where this story becomes personal. Every one of us eventually encounters circumstances we wouldn’t have chosen. In those moments, we have to decide whether our faith is built on getting the outcome we want or trusting the God we follow.
God Doesn’t Always Remove the Fire
The story continues, and the three men are thrown into the furnace. But when the king looks into the fire, he sees four figures walking around instead of three. They’re alive, unharmed, and no longer bound by the ropes that held them.
There’s plenty of discussion about the identity of that fourth figure, but I don’t want us to miss the beautiful picture the story gives us. God didn’t prevent them from entering the fire. He met them in it.
Sometimes I think that’s the part of following Jesus we struggle to understand. We want a God who keeps difficult things from happening, and sometimes He does. But the promise of His presence is not the same thing as a promise that we’ll never experience pain.
Trusting God doesn’t mean pretending the things we’re facing aren’t painful. It doesn’t mean we stop praying for healing, restoration, or change. It means we can continue asking for those things without making God’s response the determining factor in whether we believe He’s good.
Proverbs 3:5 and 6 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, to lean not on our own understanding, and to submit to Him in all our ways. The challenging part is that submission has to happen before we know how everything turns out. It’s choosing to trust God’s character before we can see His plan.
Putting This Into Practice
Learning to trust God when life doesn’t go the way we hoped takes practice. Here are three things I’d encourage you to do this week.
1Identify what you’re trying to control.
Take ten minutes and write down the things that have been consuming your thoughts lately. Maybe it’s your children, a relationship, your finances, or uncertainty about the future. Then ask yourself: Am I doing what God has called me to do, or am I trying to control an outcome that ultimately isn’t mine to control? Be specific about what you’re holding onto.
2Change the way you’re praying.
For the next seven days, intentionally bring that situation before God. Ask Him for what you’re hoping for. But before you finish praying, add this sentence: God, I believe You can do this, but even if You don’t, help me trust You. The goal isn’t to manufacture confidence. It’s to develop a posture of trust that isn’t dependent on getting the answer you want.
3Take the next faithful step.
Releasing control doesn’t mean becoming passive. Identify one action that’s actually within your responsibility and take it this week. Maybe it’s having a difficult conversation, asking for help, or making a decision you’ve been avoiding. Then resist the temptation to control how everything turns out.
You can make wise decisions, work hard, love people well, and still acknowledge that the outcome ultimately belongs to God. And maybe today, the most significant step of faith you can take is simply opening your hands. Not because you know exactly what God is going to do, but because you’re learning to trust who He is, even if He doesn’t do what you hoped.
